International Communication- MCM604 VU
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International Communication- MCM604 VU INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION (MCM604) Table of Contents Lec # Topic Title Page# 1. The historical context of international communication 3 2. The growth of the telegraph and the era of news agencies 6 3. The advent of popular media 12 4. Radio and international communication - The battle of the airwaves 14 5. International communication and development 18 6. New World Information and Communication Order and its influence 19 over developed world over developing countries 7. Approaches to theorizing international communication - 'Free flow of 23 information' 8. Modernization theory 26 9. Dependency theory 29 10. Media imperialism (revisited) 32 11. Gramsci’s Media Hegemony 35 12. Cyber space and public sphere 36 13. Cultural Studies perspectives on international communication 37 14. Theories of the information society 38 15. Discourses of globalization 41 16. Media Freedom : Control Vs Liberty 45 17. Freedom of Media in the Americas 57 18. Freedom of Media in Europe 67 19. Freedom of Media in South Asia 71 20. Freedom of Media in Arab world 79 21. Intercultural Communication Defined 86 22. Globalization and Hybridization in Cultural Products 89 23. Global Media Consumption 94 24. Regionalization and localization in the media market 103 25. Global Communication Infrastructure - The privatization of 111 telecommunications 26. Free trade in communication 113 27. Liberalization of the telecom sector - Privatizing space — the final 115 frontier, Case study: Huawei and Intelsat 28. Key players in the global satellite industry - Case study: Murdoch's News 123 Corporation 29. The world of telecommunications 130 30. Implications of a liberalized global communication regime 132 31. Media Conglomerates and merger of Traditional Media with 135 Interactive Media: The Case study of MSNBC 32. Global trade in media products - Case study: Televising sport globally — ESPN 143 33. Global news and information networks - Case study: CNN — The `world's 146 news leader' 1 International Communication- MCM604 VU 34. Setting the global news agenda 152 35. Contraflow in global media - Seeing the big world on a small screen 155 36. Communication and propaganda 159 37. Political Economy of communication 168 38. Media exports from the South to the North - Case study: TV Globo; Case 173 study: The other Hollywood — the Indian film industry 39. Media in Conflict Resolution 177 40. Muslim Portrayal in the western media 180 41. Role of Supra-national organizations in conflict resolutions and 186 perception management through media 42. Media and foreign policy 193 43. International communication in the Internet age 200 44. From a 'free flow of information' to 'free flow of commerce' - Case study: 205 The Microsoft monopoly? 45. The global digital divide - Case study: Alternative communication 212 Main Source: Thussu, D.K. (2002). International Communication: Continuity and Change. London: Arnold. 2 International Communication- MCM604 VU Lecture # 01 The Historical Context of International Communication International communication (also referred to as global communication or transnational communication) is the communication practice that occurs across international borders. The need for international communication was due to the increasing effects and influences of globalization. As a field of study, international communication is a branch of communication studies, concerning with the scope of "government-to-government", "business-to-business", and "people-to-people" interactions at a global level. Due to the increasingly globalized market, employees who possess the ability to effectively communicate across cultures are in high demand. International communication "encompasses political, economic, social, cultural and military concerns. The study of contemporary international communication can be illuminated by an understanding of the elements of continuity and change in its development. The nexus of economic, military and political power has always depended on efficient systems of communication, from flags, beacon fires and runners, to ships and telegraph wires, and now satellites. The evolution of telegraphic communication and empire in the nineteenth century exemplifies these interrelationships, which continued throughout the twentieth century, even after the end of empire. During the two World Wars and the Cold War, the power and significance of the new media - radio and then television - for international communication were demonstrated by their use for international propaganda as well as recognizing their potential for socioeconomic development. Communication and empire Communication has always been critical to the establishment and maintenance of power over distance. From the Persian, Greek and Roman empires to the British, efficient networks of communication were essential for the imposition of imperial authority, as well as for the international trade and commerce on which they were based. Indeed, the extent of empire could be used as an 'indication of the efficiency of communication'. Communications networks and technologies were key to the mechanics of distributed government, military campaigns and trade. The Greek historian, Diodorus Cronus (4th century BC) recounts how the Persian king, Darius I (522-486 BC), who extended the Persian Empire from the Danube to the Indus, could send news from the capital to the provinces by means of a line of shouting men positioned on heights. This kind of transmission was 30 times faster than using runners. In De Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar (100- 44 BC) reports that the Gauls, using the human voice, could call all their warriors to war in just three days. Using fire at night and smoke or mirrors during the day is mentioned in ancient texts, from the Old Testament to Homer. While many rulers, including the Greek polis, used inscription for public information, writing became a more flexible and efficient means of conveying information over long distances: 'Rome, Persia and the Great Khan of China all utilised writing in systems of information-gathering and dispersal, creating wide-ranging official postal and dispatch systems'. It is said that the Acta Diurna, founded by Julius Caesar and one of the forerunners of modern news media, was distributed across most of the Roman Empire: 'as communication became more efficient, the possibility of control from the centre became greater'. The Indian Emperor Ashoka's edicts, inscribed on rock in the third century BC, are found across South Asia, from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka and writ writers had a prominent place in the royal household. During the Mughal period in Indian history, the tvaqi'a-nawis (newswriters) were employed by the kings to appraise them of the progress in the empire. Both horsemen and despatch runners transmitted news and reports. In China, the T'ang Dynasty (618-907) created a formal hand- 3 International Communication- MCM604 VU written publication, the ti pao or 'official newspaper' which disseminated information to the elite and in the Ching Period (1644-1911) private news bureaux sprang up which composed and circulated official news in the printed form known as the Ch'ingpao. In addition to official systems of communication, there have also always been informal networks of travellers and traders. The technologies of international communication and globalization may be contemporary phenomena but trade and cultural interchanges have existed for more than two millennia between the Graeco-Roman world with Arabia, India and China. Indian merchandise was exported to the Persian Gulf and then overland, through Mesopotamia, to the Mediterranean coast, and from there onwards to Western Europe. An extensive trans-Asian trade flourished in ancient times, linking China with India and the Arabic lands. Later, the Silk Route through central Asia linked China, India and Persia with Europe. Information and ideas were communicated across continents, as shown by the spread of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. The medium of communication developed from the clay tablet of Mesopotamia, the papyrus roll in ancient Egypt and in ancient Greece, to parchment codex in the Roman empire. By the eighth century, paper introduced from China began to replace parchment in the Islamic world and spread to medieval Europe. Also from China, printing slowly diffused to Europe, aided by the Moors' occupation of Spain, but it was not until the fifteenth century, with the movable type printing press developed by Johann Gutenberg, a goldsmith in Mainz in Germany, that the means of communication were transformed. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the printing presses were turning out thousands of copies of books in all the major European languages. For the first time the Scriptures were available in a language other than Latin, undermining the authority of priests, scribes and political and cultural elites. As a consequence, 'the unified Latin culture of Europe was finally dissolved by the rise of the vernacular languages which was consolidated by the printing press'. Coupled with vernacular translations of the Bible by John Wycliffe in England and Martin Luther in Germany, the printing revolution helped to lay the basis for the Reformation and the foundations of nation-state and of modern capitalism. The new languages, especially Portuguese, Spanish, English and French, became the main vehicle of communication for the European colonial powers in many parts of the world. This transplantation of communication systems around the globe resulted in